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Old 12-27-2006, 02:14 AM   #1
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Revision Check

So, I revised this:
Quote:
Looking at the sun, the memory of the crash flooded back
To
Quote:
The sliver of sun burned a brilliant yellow. It turned a pale white, glassy. It was a sliver of glass, underfoot, reflecting the moon, thrown from the windshield. Blood and rain dripped upon it. He looked at the twisted carnage around him. He moaned.
And I am quite proud. This is one of the most important parts of the book and needs to be very powerful, but I want to make sure that I have made it as natural and impactful as possible and have proper grammer.
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Old 12-27-2006, 04:27 AM   #2
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First, given this is asking for advice on a piece of writing, it should be posted in the Critique and Advice section. BUT the two sections can be confusion.

The first one had simplicity and a "to the point" way going for it. While I understand you want to make an impact with this bit, usually trim and to the point is the best way to go.

An example of what I'm saying is that I know the sun tends to be yellow (or yellow-ish) in color, and I also know that the sun burns. Also, try not to start two or more sentences with the same word - especially when they are such short, chopped sentences like these. Also, throwing in short sentences in combination with longer sentences (sometimes involving the use of "and" like the last two sentences could use, combining them) will help the paragraph rhythm.

Your style is your style, so I won't rewrite your edit, but I do feel it could do with a bit more editing.
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Old 12-27-2006, 06:23 AM   #3
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Preferred the first. The second is all fluff, no substance.
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Old 12-27-2006, 11:51 AM   #4
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sorry, have to agree with mike and much of what silver had to say... imo, the revision is borderline gobbledygook, not at all 'natural' and the only impact it will have on the readers is to make them stop reading...
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Old 12-27-2006, 12:55 PM   #5
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Hard to judge without context.

First, as the others have pointed out, there's nothing wrong with the first sentence. If you revised it like this, I trust you have stylistic reasons I have no access to. It could be more consistent with the general style, or it should stand out more than it does and has to transform from a measure of objectivity to a blur of subjectivity.

Second, whether you're successful or not depends on how you continue, and what comes before. A paragraph reads different in context than it does here, in isolation.

Third, we have reference to: sun, moon, and rain. This is confusing. The confusion may be deliberate, to be resolved later; or the confusion my arise from ignorance of what should have been read before. For example, if I, as a reader, had witnessed the - I suppose - car accident, I'd already have a good idea of the setting, which would shape my reading of the paragraph (for example, knowing setting and character, I might automatically parse this as an inner confusion of perception and memory).

The two texts are not equivalent. The second one is confusing, out of context.

So, here's what I think is going on:

Character looks at the sun, has a visual bout of memory, returns to the present, moans.

You do not mark the memory as different, so it can be hard to make out the borders. For example, you could have used the simple sentence structure for the "action", but fragments for the memory:

Quote:
The sliver of sun burned a brilliant yellow. It turned a pale white, glassy. A sliver of glass, underfoot. Thrown from the windshield. Reflecting the moon. Blood and rain dripping upon it. He looked at the twisted carnage around him. He moaned.


There are other ways to set off memory, using grammar. You don't have to do this; perhaps, I'm already used to thinking in the terms you set, or you'll do that again and again, so I'll be more careful when reading. In isolation it's not clear, though. (You'll notice that I also switched the windshield-throwing and reflecting around. That's because "thrown from the windshield" belongs to "underfoot" [because-relationship], and I see no reason why you should seperate the clauses and risk that your reader thinks the moon is reflected from the windshield. Minor point, though.)

Another thing: "He looked at the twisted carnage around him." Now you're getting abstract again: a style that invokes the sentence you have revised. I suggest:

"He looked around. He moaned."

Either the readers already knows about the "twisted carnage", or they'll know shortly. I find, they're chep effect words.

Of course, I don't know if I read this correctly. The above is based on my best guess.
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Old 12-29-2006, 02:30 PM   #6
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Quote:
The sliver of sun burned a brilliant yellow.


Even though it seems the 'sun' in this story seems to be an unusual color, I think it should be "The silver of the sun," rather than "The silver of sun". But I agree with the concensus here; the first one's better. You could, however, take another jab at a revision.
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Old 12-29-2006, 06:10 PM   #7
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Either is good - but it depends on the context that it's being used in.
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Old 12-29-2006, 06:32 PM   #8
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Knightskye
Even though it seems the 'sun' in this story seems to be an unusual color, I think it should be "The silver of the sun," rather than "The silver of sun". But I agree with the concensus here; the first one's better. You could, however, take another jab at a revision.
[/font]
sliver != silver

I too preferred the original.
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